Does anyone have any recommendations on learning formal logic? Specifically natural deduction and the background to Godel’s incompleteness theorem.
I have a lot of material on the theory but I find it a very difficult thing to learn, it doesn’t respond well to standard learning techniques because of the mixture of specificity and deep concepts you need to understand to move forward.
I highly recommend Introduction to Logic by Harry Gensler, but don’t just read the book. You are very unlikely to grok formal logic without working your way through a large number of problem sets.
but don’t just read the book. You are very unlikely to grok formal logic without working your way through a large number of problem sets.
I know that very well. I’ve been filling notepads with tableau proofs for the past few days. I find tableau a lot easier than natural deduction as you can work through them algorythmically, but natural deduction proofs require a strange sort of sideways thinking to them, learning tricks and techniques to take you towards a desired conclusion.
Does anyone have any recommendations on learning formal logic? Specifically natural deduction and the background to Godel’s incompleteness theorem.
I have a lot of material on the theory but I find it a very difficult thing to learn, it doesn’t respond well to standard learning techniques because of the mixture of specificity and deep concepts you need to understand to move forward.
I highly recommend Introduction to Logic by Harry Gensler, but don’t just read the book. You are very unlikely to grok formal logic without working your way through a large number of problem sets.
Thanks, I’ll look that one up.
I know that very well. I’ve been filling notepads with tableau proofs for the past few days. I find tableau a lot easier than natural deduction as you can work through them algorythmically, but natural deduction proofs require a strange sort of sideways thinking to them, learning tricks and techniques to take you towards a desired conclusion.